Python's Curse
by PandoraTheFangirlQueen
Summary: It's been one month after Gaea's defeat. Will hoped that there wouldn't be any more excitement for a while. But now he's the leader of a quest to save Apollo from a slightly psycopathic enemy. What's better, not all of them might survive. Also, what's Lou Ellen hiding? Can Cecil find their destination in time? Will Nico EVER warm up to him? Will the team fall apart?They'll find out
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone! This is a story about what happened to Apollo after the events of the Blood of Olympus.**

**I do not own the cover. It belongs to SabertoothRacoon. I suggest you all see her Tumblr because she's awesome.**

**I also do not own these characters. If I did, I wouldn't be on Fanfiction.**

**Warning: This story will be stuffed with Solangelo because I'm Solangelo trash right now.**

**Here's the first chapter, enjoy!**

Nico stuffed two French fries into his mouth. Soon Jason and Percy would be at their "Big Three Table" and only too happy to steal his breakfast.

"Hey," Jason said as he slid onto the bench and set a plate next to Nico's. Percy took the seat on the other side.

"Is that plum sauce?" Percy grabbed a fry from Nico's plate and dipped it in the small container. Nico rolled his eyes.

About two weeks after Nico has decided to stay at Camp Half-Blood, Jason and Percy decided to sit at the Hades table. Now everyone calls it "The Big Three Table".

"So, Nico," Percy mumbled, chewing one of Nico's fries, "did you find Leo yet?" Percy has been asking Nico to find Leo's spirit in the Underworld, maybe get a chat with him.

"Percy, I can't find him," Nico said. He'd searched the fields of Elysium and Asphodel from top to bottom. He even searched in the fields of Punishment, even though it was impossible for Leo to end up in there. "Charon sometimes doesn't take demigods who don't get proper burials. Maybe that's why."

The son of Jupiter's expression turned painful. "He's still alive," he whispered, the corners of his mouth twitching, "I know he's still alive."

Nico exchanged a look with Percy. Jason and Piper were the ones that stopped the Hephaestus cabin from making a burial shroud for Leo. It's been a month, but they were still in denial. They wouldn't let anyone refer to their friend as dead. Hazel told Nico to just give them time, but Nico knew that Hades wouldn't like it if they didn't give the son of Hephaestus a proper burial soon.

"Jason, just think about it," Nico said, "I think my father is getting impatient."

Jason got up. "I'm not really hungry." He takes his plate away and throws his barely-touched meal into the compost bin.

Percy glanced at Nico. "He'll come around."  
-line break-

Nico headed to the infirmary after breakfast. Will Solace was waiting for him.

"You're late," he said, a small smile on his face.

"I brought you a sandwich," Nico handed a paper bag to the son of Apollo; "You're welcome."

The demigods at Camp Half-Blood had a peaceful month after the defeat of Gaea. In the first week, Nico and what was left of the Seven constantly screamed the entire camp awake with nightmares. But after Nico got his sleeping pills from Will and the Seven got permission to sleep with their significant others, the most exciting things that happen were the games of Capture-the-Flag.

When Nico agreed to help out in the infirmary, he was hoping that he'd be able to spend some more time with Will. Unfortunately, he was disappointed.

The camp was mostly recovered from the war, but some demigods with severe injuries hadn't been quite ready to leave the infirmary. So far, there were still two people in comas, four people in body casts, one person who's paralyzed (a Hecate kid's binding spell backfired and now he couldn't move), and a _lot_ of people dealing with PTSD.

Apparently Will was also a good therapist.

"Nyssa, remember that _none_ of that was your fault," Will was saying to a daughter of Hephaestus, "Even if he didn't volunteer, you couldn't have tamed it." He patted the sobbing girl on the head. "You couldn't have taken his place. There was nothing you could have done."

Nico poured nectar into canteens and tried not to see the resemblance between Nyssa and Leo.

A beep sounded in the distance. Nico looked out the window to see Argus and several other teenagers hop off a van.

Nico smiled. Reyna was there. So were Hazel and Frank and all the other centurions of the Twelfth Legion. Rachel Dare, Ella the harpy, and Tyson were there, and-

Nico's heart skipped a beat. Something was wrong. The last person to hop off the van was a twelve-year-old girl with auburn hair and silver camouflage clothing. She had a bow and a quiver of arrows slung over her shoulders. Her silver eyes were tinged red, even from a distance.

It was Artemis, the goddess of the hunt.

**Ohh... we're already getting started.**

**Remember to review!**

**~Pandora**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi, everyone! This is the second chapter of this story:**

Will was finishing cutting bandages and about to call a lunch break when the praetors of New Rome, Reyna Ramirez-Arellano and Frank Zhang entered the infirmary.

"Hello, Doctor Solace," Reyna said reverently. Her mouth spread into a smile when she saw Nico. "Nico!"

The son of Hades hugged the praetor. "How's Hazel?" he asked Frank.

"She's doing great," the son of Mars said, "We have a cavalry club going now. If you need her, she's at the Big House talking to Chiron."

Reyna shifted her weight and said, "Nico, Will, something happened, and it's bad. We need the whole camp at the campfire in ten minutes for an emergency meeting. We'll tell everyone the details there."

-Line break-

Normally the camp doesn't go to the campfire as a group in the day. If a meeting was needed, the counselors would go to the room in the Big House where they talked about whatever they needed to talk about over sprayed-cheese, crackers and diet coke.

However, Artemis had refused to meet at the Big House. She wanted the entire camp to hear whatever she had to say. She also made everyone meet at the campfire immediately, so it was one of the few occasions when the entire camp was gathered around the campfire with the sun shining down on them. It felt strange.

Kayla nudged Will. "What do you think it's about?" she asked. Will shrugged. For some reason, he had a bad feeling about this meeting. Maybe the timing was just strange, but maybe it was something else.

Artemis faced the crowd of half-bloods. "Demigods," she announced, "as you all know, after the war with Gaea, my brother, Apollo, went missing."

The people in Apollo's cabin, including Will, shifted uncomfortably at the glances the rest of the camp sent their way.

The cabin had speculated all month about what happened to their father. Their theories were mostly hard to believe, but most people have agreed that Apollo's disappearance was linked somehow to the missing gift of prophecies.

Will had never known his dad. Sure, Apollo visited him in his crib when he was a baby, but they had never _really_ known each other. Will was pretty sure they'd never had a conversation together, unless you counted his two-month-old self gurgling at his dad and Apollo saying a bunch of non-sense baby talk as a conversation.

Still, Apollo was his dad, and even if Will wanted to strangle him for being such a horrible parent sometimes, he was worried about him.

"I have searched for him for a month," Artemis said, "and now he sent me a message that he is being held hostage by his old enemy, Python."

There were many gasps around the campfire. Kayla squeezed her brother's hand. Will patted his sister's head.

"I don't have the power of the Oracle," Artemis continued, "but I get hunches. Recently, my brother's Oracle and your harpy friend, Ella, has recovered a prophecy that I am certain will lead you to my brother." She turned to a red harpy standing beside her. "Ella, if you may."

The harpy named Ella smoothed the feathers on her left wing and recited:

_The fall of the Sun, the final verse._

_Four shall head east to break the curse._

_The thief shall guide you to the serpent's home,_

_Where one shall be lost to an illusion's hold._

_Light and Darkness shall break the chains._

_One shall dissolve, and leave with what remains._

_With a final shot, Apollo shall keep._

_And one will lose what he desperately needs._

Ella looked around. "One of you will lose what you need. Ella needs to go. HARP meeting." With that she fluttered off.

Reyna gave the Ella's shrinking form a curious glance and directed her attention back to the crowd. "Since this is a quest to rescue Apollo, and considering the line, 'Light and Darkness shall break the chains,' a child of Apollo should lead the quest." She scanned the area where the Will's cabin was sitting, obviously looking for volunteers.

Will and his siblings looked amongst themselves. Soon all of his siblings were staring at Will. A mixture of emotions can be seen in their faces-encouragement, shame, guilt, relief.

No one wanted to be in the quest. Will didn't blame his brothers, sisters, and sib. The prophecy wasn't exactly the most encouraging.

But someone has to go. It took Will ten seconds to remember that he's the head counselor, so he has to go.

Kayla hugged him. "Don't worry," she whispered, "you're a tough guy. You'll be fine."

Shakily, Will stood up. "Since no one in my cabin is willing to volunteer, and since I am the head counselor, I will go."

Reyna gave the demigod a grateful smile. "Thank you, Will Solace. This time, according to the prophecy, we need four people on the quest, not the usual three. We need three more volunteers."

Lou Ellen, the head counselor of the Hecate cabin spoke up. "The prophecy said something about an illusion. I'm going to guess that it has something to do with the Mist. If you're dealing with mist, then Hecate is the perfect cabin. And since I'm head counselor, I'll go."

Will glanced at Hazel Levesque, who was standing behind Reyna and Frank. Nico had told him plenty of stories. Hazel could manipulate the Mist as well. She can make you look like a dracaena if she wanted to.

Hazel caught his glance. She shook her head. _Sorry,_ she mouthed,_ no more quests._

Will understood. Back when the war with Gaea had just ended and Camp Jupiter stayed at Camp Half-Blood for a few days, the Seven always screamed from their dreams at night. Will can understand not wanting to bond with more people and then losing them to another quest.

Besides, he had Lou Ellen. She was also pretty powerful. Will wasn't sure if he could work very well with Hazel, but he and Lou Ellen was a well-oiled machine together. They'd known each other for years. They were basically best friends.

"Hold on," Clarisse la Rue from the Ares cabin said, "It said 'One shall be lost'. What if the reason someone gets lost is because a child of Hecate lost control of the Mist or something?"

Lou Ellen's ears turned red. "Are you saying that I'm not good enough?" Her voice got half an octave higher. "Because if you're saying that I'm not good enough-"

Will quickly walked over to the daughter of Hecate and put a hand on her shoulder. "Show them what you can do," he said.

Lou Ellen snapped her fingers. The trees caught on fire. The sky turned red. Bats that looked like they were made out of copper swooped from the sky. She snapped her fingers again, and the scenery disappeared.

"I'm a very powerful magician," she said, "and yes, I can control it. Besides, do you want to go _against_ the prophecy?"

Will smiled at his friend. "You're in."

Frank gave Lou Ellen a thumbs-up. "Anyone else?"

A pale hand rose. Will couldn't believe what he was seeing. Even after a month, the camper was still deathly pale from the thousands of miles he'd shadow traveled. He hadn't thought he'd volunteer, especially after hearing that _particular_ line of the prophecy.

Nico di Angelo wanted to go on the quest.

**Nico, you should know better.**

**Remember to review!**

**~Pandora**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi everyone! Wow, I got four reviews! Thanks, guys!**

**Here's today's chapter:**

Lou Ellen stared at the son of Hades. She didn't know the whole story, but Will had told her plenty about Nico's shadow travel problems. She was told that he literally turned to smoke. Considering that one line in the prophecy, Lou Ellen was pretty sure the guy had a death wish.

"Nico," Will demanded, "what do you think you're doing?"

"I'm playing a banjo. What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Nico," one of the praetors, Reyna, said, "You really shouldn't go on this quest, considering your... condition."

Nico glared at her. Lou Ellen was sure that the temperature dropped about ten degrees. "Do you think I don't _know_ that? Gods, Reyna, it's been a month! I'm fine now. Besides, the prophecy said, 'Life and Death'. Death means a child of Hades. I'm the only candidate."

"Now, wait a minute," Hazel Levesque said beside him. Lou Ellen had seen her mouth to Will that she didn't want to be in another quest. Apparantly, she changed her mind. "I'm a daughter of Pluto. Death can also mean me."

Nico shook his head. "Hazel, you're _not_ going. I'm not letting you." He shot a glance at Lou Ellen and Will that said, _help me out._

"Nico," Lou Ellen said cautiously, "I saw what happened when you tried to shadow travel. The prophecy literally said 'dissolve'. I think it's too risky and-"

"Would you rather have it happen to _Will_ instead?" Nico cut in, "It's going to happen to someone, and I think that our chances are just about the same."

"Nico, please," Hazel said.

"Enough, Hazel!" he snapped, "It's 'Life and Death', not 'Life and Miss Oh-Look-I-Can-Summon-Shiny-Jewelery'! You have no control over the dead."

Hazel pursed her lips. Lou Ellen could tell she was holding back tears. What Nico said _was_ pretty harsh.

Artemis, who was watching wordlessly, said, "I actually think that Nico di Angelo should go on this quest. He is the best candidate for _Death_, after all. And unless things have changed a lot since we last met four years ago, he would be able to carry his own weight."

Percy Jackson hadn't talked much about what had happened the night before they arrived in Apollo's bus with the di Angelos, but from the things he did say, Lou Ellen could tell that things _have_ changed a lot. She wanted to protest, but she had a feeling that disagreeing with a goddess would be bad for her health.

The other praetor, Frank, sighed. "Fine. Now we need one more person. The prophecy says, 'The thief will guide you to the the Serpent's home'. Hermes is the god of thieves, and a child of Hermes would be a good guide as well." He scanned the spot where the Hermes campers are sitting. "We need someone from eleven."

Lou Ellen shifted her gaze to Travis Stoll. No one else was volunteering, and he was the oldest. She felt sorry for Travis.

Travis shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He looked desperately amongst his siblings. For a moment, no one moved. Then, five seats over, a shaky hand rose.

Lou Ellen noticed Will's eyes widen. She was surprised as well.

"Cecil, are you sure?" Will asked. The son of Hermes nodded. Maybe no one else noticed, but the fear in his eyes was obvious to Lou Ellen.

She and Cecil had been friends since they were ten, before they knew anything about this crazy demigod buisness. With Will, the three of them were unstoppable. Like most children of Hermes, Cecil was a daredevil. But Lou Ellen was sure that he's never gone on an dangerous mission before, nevermind a quest. This quest didn't seem like the best one to start with.

"Sure I'm sure," Cecil said, tapping his fingers on his arm, "I'm great with directions. I can also fight."

Lou Ellen stared at Cecil. _Are you really sure?_ Her look said

_One hundred percent, Lou._ He stared back.

_But why?_

_I really need to get out for a while._

Lou Ellen sighed. She nodded to Will. He looked unsure, but he said, "Alright, you're in."

The Oracle, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, asked, "Now that we've gotten the team covered, we need to decide where you need to go."

"Greece," Cecil said, sounding sure of himself, "Delphi, to be exact. We're supposed to head east, but we're already in the east of North America. If we have to go east anymore, we'd be on the other side of the Atlantic and in Europe. The spirit of Delphi is called so for a reason, so we should go to Delphi." He grinned at the rest of the demigods.

Lou Ellen, seeing that Cecil had moved beside her, gave his friend a fist bump.

"I can get you guys tickets for a plane ride there," Rachel said, "First class, if I can. Then I can book you guys a hotel for a week."

"Very well, then," Chiron looked at Nico, Will, Lou Ellen, and Cecil in the eye mournfully, "You will leave tomorrow morning, right after breakfast."

"Earlier," Artemis said, "I do not know how long Apollo can hold out against Python. I will give you the afternoon to pack your things and get some rest, but you must be off first thing after dinner."

Chiron nodded. "Good luck, heroes. May the gods be with you."

-Line break-

As soon as Lou Ellen and her siblings finished packing her backpack, she climbed onto her bunk and passed out immediately.

She dreamed she was standing in a cave. Stalacites dripped green liquid that sizzled when it touched the ground. There were tiny craters on the ground that Lou Ellen suspected was from the green liquid.

The only source of light, strangely enough, was a pond beside her. It was filled with white pearly water that glowed faintly. When a stalacite drips a drop of green liquid into the pond, the drop would, in the last second, turn pearly and white like the pond water.

"Hello, sister," Lou Ellen spun around. She could make out a sillouette of a person with messy hair. There were glowing green runes on his (Lou Ellen assumed the person was a guy because of his body shape)clothes that Lou Ellen could recongnise-_water, shatter, light,_ and, for some reason,_ professor_.

"I wish I can meet you at Camp Half-Blood, but I can't go there. We'll meet again, and try not to kill me when we do."

Lou Ellen wanted to say something: _Who are you? Where are we? Don't send your professor to lecture me or anything._ But before she can say anything, the cave dissapeared.

Lou Ellen opened one eye, then the other. Her brother was shaking her shoulder, telling her to get ready for dinner.

**Well, I wonder what the rest of the story will be about. I'll give a cookie to whoever guesses who the boy is.**

**Remember to review!**

**~Pandora**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi, everyone. It's been a long time, but I'm back!**

**For those of you who tried to guess who the boy was, I'll reveal if you're right in a few chapters. Then you get your cookies!**

**Here's today's chapter:**

Cecil checked his bags for everything for what seemed like the hundredth time, at Connor Stoll's insistence.

"Are you sure you've got everything, Cecil," Connor asked.

Cecil huffed in exasperation. "Yes, Connor."

"Do you have at least a hundred dollars?"

"Yes. And international airports do have banks, you know."

"Clothing?"

"Yeah. Plus, Greece is full of gift shops."

"All your weapons?"

"Yeah."

"Maybe you should check again."

"Connor," Travis Stoll came by, "you're going to make the kid miss his plane. He'll be fine. It won't be like last time."

Cecil knew what he was talking about. The last time a child of Hermes went on a major quest, something had gone wrong. Cecil never met Luke Castellan, but he knew that the guy's failed quest was one of the reasons why he joined Kronos and started a war.

That quest had been seven years ago. Cecil had only been at camp for about three years. The Stolls however were there for that last quest. They were probably pretty close to Luke Castellan as well. They probably don't want a repeat of Luke.

"Travis is right, Connor," Cecil slung his backpack over his shoulder. "I'll be fine."

As he walked out of his cabin, he kept his hand firmly on his right pocket. Connor Stoll would be slightly pissed that he stole his candy bar, but he would understand. In the Hermes cabin, it was a tradition, apparently, to steal a small object that one of its campers had been carrying right before going on a mission. Connor would be less worried, Cecil thought, since he wasn't caught. Apparently if you got caught stealing the object, it was supposed to symbolize that the mission would fail.

-Line break-

Nico, Will, and Lou Ellen were waiting for him at the camp borders. Will was bickering with Nico while Lou Ellen watched with a bemused smirk.

"I'm telling you, we need to bring a tent!"Will was saying.

"Rachel already got us a hotel," Nico said, "Why bother?"

"What if we couldn't get back to the hotel and had to spend the night outside or something?" Will asked.

"We have to pack light. I suppose we're just supposed to carry a giant tent frame and a wad of cloth onto the plane?"

"That doesn't matter. It's better safe than sorry. And technically, the pole for the tent can be used to smack monsters."

"What even-?"

"You know what guys," Cecil cut in, "Let's just pack light. If things get ugly, I can steal a tent or something."

Lou Ellen shrugged and choked back a laugh. "Let's go."

-Line Break-

Argus got them to the airport at about nine o'clock. Rachel said that their plane leaves at eleven, so the demigods just burned time by going around looking in the gift shops.

By the time the demigods had to line up to board the plane, Lou Ellen had taken about a million selfies (not with a phone, of course. She had a mini camera and dozens of rolls of film). Cecil had a snow globe, four refrigerator magnets, and a scarf that said I 3 NY. (He stole them, of course.) Nico and Will had gotten into at least two more arguments.

Will glanced at his watch. "Come on, guys," he said, "Get your passports ready."

Nico stopped in his tracks and face palmed. "Stupid," Cecil heard him mutter, "International travel…passport…How could I have forgotten?"

"What's wrong, Nico?" Will asked.

Nico blushed. "It's just that… I forgot we needed passports."

"You forgot your passport at camp?" Will's voice got a bit high. "Oh my gods, we should have checked sooner. Quick- someone send an IM to Hazel-"

"I didn't forget it, Will," Nico sighed, "I-I actually don't have a passport. I was born in the 30's, remember? If I had a passport, it would have been incinerated when I was little. Even if it wasn't, I don't think they'd let a teenager claiming to be born in the 1930's on a plane."

"So what do we do?" Will was obviously panicking.

"I can get a ride from Jules Albert. I'm not sure if he can drive a plane, but if he can't, I can always shadow travel."

"No," Lou Ellen said firmly, "You are getting on this plane with us." She nudged Cecil and motioned for him to follow her.

-Line Break-

The plan was easy: Cecil would steal someone's passport and Lou Ellen would make the security guard think that Nico looked like whoever was on the passport.

Cecil scanned the crowd. Lou Ellen said to find someone that looked as much as Nico as possible. Faces were hard for her, for some reason.

Cecil saw a pale teenage boy with dark hair and circles under his eyes. The guy had neater hair and more zits, but otherwise, he looked like a sixteen-year-old Nico di Angelo.

He slipped next to the guy and bumped into him. The boy didn't pay attention to him, since the airport was so crowded, Cecil made him drop his bag, then grabbed it and sprinted away before the boy can see him.

"Someone took my bag!" the boy shouted. He turned to a redheaded girl. "Please tell me you saw who it was, Wendy."

Cecil ran faster. The girl looked tough, like a lumberjack. She would probably beat him up if she caught him.

-Line break-

"Here's your passport," Cecil said when he reached Nico.

Nico squinted at the document. "Where did you get this?"

"I got it from a nice guy. Remember, your name is Robert. Act natural."

Will, Cecil, and Lou Ellen got past the security guard. The guard read Nico's passport, then narrowed his eyes at the son of Hades. Lou Ellen raised her hand slightly. Sweat beaded down her face.

Cecil could see Nico's appearance change ever so subtly. He got taller. His chin turned more pointed. The guard nodded and said, "Thank you, you may proceed." He turned to Lou Ellen and frowned. "Are you okay, kid?" he asked, "You're a little pale. Why are you out of breath?"

Lou Ellen smiled. "I'm fine," she panted, "I just ran over here, remember?" She tapped her leg slightly. "I just need my inhaler."

While she was talking, Cecil snuck the bag under the guard's desk. The guard will find it and give it back to the kid named Robert.

As soon as the four got onto the plane, Lou Ellen flopped onto her seat, tied her seatbelts on, and started to snore. Cecil took a seat beside her and tried to sleep, too.

**I'll give a doughnut to whoever guesses who the two people that Cecil stole from are!**

**Remember to review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi, everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in a long time. Our class went camping a few days ago and my body still hurts from paddling a kayak for three hours straight.**

**To those of you who answered my question from the last chapter, if you answered Robbie Valentine and Wendy Corduroy from Gravity Falls, then you are correct! Here are some virtual doughnuts: ( ) ( )**

**Today we've got a longer chapter. Enjoy: **

Nico stared outside his window. He had no interest in watching anything from the small screen on the back of the seat in front of him.

They were crossing the Atlantic Ocean now. The lights of the plane were dimmed so passengers can get some sleep.

Beside him, Will adjusted his sleeping position slightly and hugged Nico's arm. He'd fallen asleep on Nico's shoulder about an hour ago, and Nico didn't have the heart to wake him up.

Nico wished he could sleep like Will, but there were only six hours left for the flight. His sleeping pills worked for eight hours. He couldn't let the others drag him around the airport, half –conscious, when they get off the plane.

To pass the time, he thought about the events of the afternoon. He wondered if the talk he had with Hazel would be his last.

-Line break-

When the meeting had dispersed and Nico was sent to pack his things, Hazel had tagged along.

"You should bring extra clothes," she said, "Our quest took way longer than we thought. Who knows how long your quest will take?"

Nico did as he was told. He stuffed ten shirts and just as many pairs of pants into his backpack.

Hazel walked up behind him and put a familiar-looking plastic bottle in his bag.

"What are you doing?" Nico asked. That was his bottle of sleeping pills. He can't take that on the quest. "I can do fine without them."

"No, you can't," Hazel said briskly, "I know what happened to Reyna when she tried to go to sleep without taking these. She hadn't been through nearly as much as you. You're going to get proper sleep."

"They work for eight hours!" Nico protested.

"So, if you don't have that long to sleep, break them into smaller pieces."

"What if something happens and I had to get up earlier than I thought?"

"You'll be fine," Hazel said abruptly, shoving the bottle into the bag and smacking Nico's hand away when he tried to remove it. "You should get some sleep right now. I saved you a pill."

"But-"

"No. I'm not having you go on this quest sleep deprived. You are not dying."

Nico realized what was going on.

"Hazel," he said meekly, "I'm really sorry about what happened at the campfire. I didn't want you to get hurt again on another quest."

Hazel's glare softened. Nico realized that he could have been talking about so many things when he said "hurt". He didn't want that to happen to Hazel, but he realized that there were other reasons that he volunteered.

Hazel realized that as well. "Nico," she said softly, "Why did you want to go on the quest, really? You know that I can handle myself. There's a better reason."

Nico scowled at the floor. "I guess there is."

"Did you volunteer to protect Will?" she asked, "I know you're very good friends." She said "friends" like there were many meanings for that word, and Nico could pick which one.

"Partially," Nico admitted. He didn't want to turn into smoke again. The thought of it scared him.

He didn't see the point in fearing the death that came with dissolving into darkness. Bianca was afraid of death, but he never was. After all, everyone will die sooner or later. Why be paranoid about it? What Nico was afraid of was the thought of losing all of his memories. Losing himself.

He had no idea if something similar will happen if it happened to Will, but he kind of wanted to lower his friend's chances of "dissolving", whatever that meant.

"How much is partially?" Hazel asked.

"About forty percent." He sat down on his bed.

"What's the other sixty?" Hazel sat down as well.

Nico sighed. "I guess I'm just trying to do something good. I thought maybe this good deed will even out the bad deeds I've done in my past."

"Nico," Hazel gently, "you've never been anything short of a hero. You don't need good deeds to even out the bad ones. You're already good."

Nico snorted. "No, I'm not."

"What did you ever do that was so bad?"

Nico stared at his sister. He remembered the nights shortly after the war when he would hold her until she cried herself to sleep over Leo Valdez. When Frank came over, sometimes Nico could hear them both sniffle.

His sister wasn't even the most affected. For days, Piper and Jason wouldn't come out of Bunker Nine. In the first week after the war, the Seven, Cabin Ten, and Cabin Nine had managed to force them to eat exactly one salad each.

Even now, they still had that distant expression on their faces most of the time. They were probably spending most of their time living through their memories of the friend they'd never see again.

Percy and Annabeth didn't seem to be as affected as the rest of their friends, but that's probably only because they've had so much practice hiding their grief already.

Bunker Nine always welcomed Annabeth, and it had so many genius designs that would probably rival the designs on Annabeth's old computer. Nico has noticed, though, that Annabeth avoided the place like the plague.

Nico wasn't sure if the reason that Percy winces every time he sees a fire was because of Leo or something that happened in Tartarus.

He could have prevented everyone from all this grief if he just hadn't let Octavian fire that onager.

Then he remembered the horrified scream Octavian let out when he was launched to his doom. He remembered the terror in Bryce Lawrence's eyes when he was turned into a ghost.

Leo. Octavian. Bryce.

One was a hero. One was a scum bag, but brave. One was an insane murderer. The only thing these three people had in common was that Nico killed them all.

The son of Hades buried his face in his hands. "I'm a murderer," he sobbed.

Nico didn't cry. If you said otherwise he would probably punch you in the face. This time, however, was an exception. Nico felt hot tears drip down his cheeks. He didn't care. He didn't care that Hazel was patting his back, saying what he guessed were comforting things. He'd been holding all that emotion for a month, and it felt good to let them out.

"What do you mean?" Hazel asked, she was hugging her brother now, gently stroking his hair. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"No," Nico managed. Between sniffles and hiccups, he managed to tell Hazel about what happened to Octavian and Bryce Lawrence.

When he finished, Hazel wiped away his tears and smiled at him sadly. Nico expected her back away from him. He expected her to yell at him for killing Leo. He kind of wanted her to. It was what he deserved.

Hazel did neither of those things. "It wasn't your fault," she whispered, her voice almost breaking, "Bryce hurt Reyna, and Octavian was going to launch that onager no matter what you did. Don't blame yourself."

But Nico did blame himself. He could tell that Hazel was trying to hold it together for him. He was older. He should be the one comforting Hazel, not the other way around.

"I'm sorry," was all he could say.

"Don't be," Hazel said.

She hugged him again, and they stayed like that for a while.

"Don't tell the others," Nico mumbled.

"I won't."

"They'll hate me."

"They won't hate you."

Nico yawned.

"Sleep," Hazel ordered.

"But the nightmares…"

"I'll be right beside you if you need me." So Nico slept.

There were no nightmares, surprisingly, and when Nico woke up, he felt much better. Hazel and the rest of the Seven were in his cabin.

"We just wanted to say goodbye," Percy said. Everyone wished him good luck. Nico even allowed the others to put him in the middle of a short group hug.

As he was about to leave, Hazel ran up to him, hugged him, and kissed his cheek.

"Thanks for, you know, this afternoon," Nico said.

"You were there for me when I was going through hard times," Hazel replied, "It was my turn. Love you, big brother."

-Line break-

Will shifted in his sleep again. He put Nico's arm around his torso. Nico was extremely uncomfortable, but he decided to let Will sleep peacefully.

After what seemed to be a few minutes, Nico heard a giggle. He turned to the seat behind him and saw Lou Ellen with a smirk on her face.

"Oh, don't mind me," she said when she noticed Nico frowning at her, "I'm just enjoying the sight of my OTP."

Nico had no idea what OTP meant, but he decided to let the subject drop.

"Lou Ellen," he asked, "what happened at the airport? You looked really tired."

Lou Ellen frowned. "Well, I'm great at magic and all, but there are two things I always have trouble with: altering memories and changing human faces. Altering memories is a more advanced level of magic, so I get why I'm bad at that for the moment. Faces, I have no idea, but I've just learned to deal with it."

"Oh."

"You're Hazel Levesque's brother, aren't you?" she asked. Nico didn't really appreciate being known as just Hazel's brother, but he said yes.

"I know that Hazel takes Mist bending lessons with the Hecate cabin every time she visits, but do you think she can meet with me some other time and help me with faces? I heard she's good at that."

Nico, realizing that Lou Ellen was desperate for some small talk, grudgingly obliged. "How does this Mist bending work?" he asked.

"Well, there's a layer of natural Mist that makes most mortals see something that would make sense to them. Most demigods, with a bit of training, can slightly alter that Mist to roughly fit what they want humans to see. It only works on mortals, though, if it's done by just any demigod.

"If you want to be specific about what you conjure up, you'd have to be a child of Hecate, like yours truly, or blessed by her, which I think Hazel was. You can bend the Mist to your will with very little or no training, but sometimes it fails. If you want to do potions or hexes or anything else, though, you'd have to have a lot of training."

Now Nico was curious. "So you could bend the Mist really well even before you got claimed and started training?"

"I actually found out before I came to Camp Half-Blood," Lou Ellen admitted, "Cecil, Will, and I were following our satyr to camp when this pack of telekhines attacked. There were so many of them and we couldn't hold them off. I was scared, but then there was a big pop and a bunch of sparks flew from my hands. It scared the monsters away."

"Oh. So can you show me how to control the Mist?" Nico thought knowing how to control the Mist might be helpful, especially if they were going to a city full of mortal tourists.

"Sure. It's easy. You just-"she stopped abruptly.

"Yes?" Nico prompted?

"Nico, wake up Will, please," Lou Ellen ordered, shaking Cecil's arm.

"But-"

Suddenly, Lou Ellen held up her hand. An electric blue dome formed around the four of them. There was a loud crack. Nearby a woman heading back to her seat stumbled and collapsed.

**Oh, that was close.**

**I just love writing sibling fluff.**

**Remember to review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi, everyone. I'm so sorry I haven't updated in, what, months now? I had so much writer's block, I'm also working on five other stories (they're original stories, not fanfics, so I won't post them here), and grade eight is becoming harder.**

**Anyway, I wrote a longer chapter to compensate. Here it is:**

Will was woken up by a loud crack. He wasn't sure why his bed was so uncomfortable at first, and then he realized a few things:

1\. He was on a plane.

2\. He was headed to Delphi to save his dad.

3\. He was holding on to Nico di Angelo's arm.

4\. Nico smelled good in a weird way, like freshly dug up dirt in a graveyard.

5\. Lou Ellen had a magic shield around him, the blue kind that blocked hexes.

6\. _He was holding on to Nico di Angelo's arm._

Will sat up abruptly, blushing.

"What the," he sputtered, "Lou Ellen, what's going on?"

His friend waited a few more seconds, then put down her hand. The shield faded.

"I sensed a hex coming our way. I think it's gone now. Will, go and check on the passengers."

Will sprinted over to the woman sprawled on the floor. He checked her breathing and her pulse. Both were steady, but slow. He checked a few more passengers and got the same results.

"They're all in comas," he announced to the group.

Cecil's eyes widened. "So, are the people in the other sections of the plane also in comas?" he asked.

"I would say so," Lou Ellen replied.

"Then why's the plane not crashing?"

"I think it's autopilot, or something like that," Will said.

"Well," Will saw Nico reach under his seat and pull out his Stygian iron sword. "I'm not willing to take that chance. We're going to the cockpit."

It wasn't autopilot that was driving the plane.

Four empousai were clustered in front of the control panel of the plane. Two were sitting on the seat intended for the pilot and the co-pilot. The other two were pushing each other, trying to see the control panel. Two mortals, most likely the pilot and the co-pilot, were slumped against a wall.

The moment Lou Ellen shoved open the door to the cockpit, the four monsters spun around. For a moment the two groups stared at each other, gaping. Then one of the empousai standing lunged at Will.

Nico shoved the demon aside and impaled her. Golden dust exploded everywhere.

"That's one," he stated. The dust looked like sunlight filtering through his jet black hair.

The other three empousai attacked. Will drew out the dagger hanging from his belt and jabbed at one of the demon's chest. She dodged the blade. Lou Ellen shot a ball of magic at her. (What was in that ball, anyway? Electricity? Acid? Knowing Lou Ellen, it was probably something like poisonous glitter.)

The empousa dodged that as well. The ball hit the side of the wall and disappeared in an explosion of sparkles. Will pulled up the collar of his shirt to his nose. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cecil do the same.

"Now, now, demigods," the empousa smiled at them. Has she always looked this pretty? "You don't want to hurt us, do you?"

Will agreed. They could probably sort this out without going through any kind of violence. He felt himself lowering his dagger. Beside him, Lou Ellen lowered her hand, her face red as a tomato.

"Guys!" Nico yelled, "Snap out of it! She's charmspeaking you!"

Lou Ellen's gaze hardened. She fired another glitter ball at the empousa. A moment later, Will and Lou Ellen were both covered in dust and glitter. Will took the bow slung on his back and drew an arrow from his quiver.

"Two," she announces.

An empousa was at the front of the cockpit, leaning over the control panel of the plane, turning the control yoke. Will shot an arrow at her. She was really close, and the arrow hit her in the back, impaling her to the control panel. He sighs. He was aiming for her neck.

"Three."

Cecil cut the last empousa in half with his sword.

"Four. Well," he panted, "that happened."

The plane started to tip.

"What did you do, Will?" Lou Ellen screamed. Will was going to ask her what she meant, then he noticed his arrow, sticking out from the control panel of the plane.

Oh no.

"I'm sorry!" he sputtered, "I didn't think of –" He took a deep breath. Panicking would not help in this situation. "Someone turn on autopilot!"

Nico ran to the control panel and pressed a button. Sparks popped out of the panel.

"It's not working," he announced, "The arrow hit something important."

He turned to Will. "You had to use your arrow," Nico ranted, "That demon was four feet away from you! You had a knife!"

"How about we don't die now, and you can chew Will out later?" Lou Ellen turned to Cecil. "Do something!" she demanded.

"What do you want me to do?" Cecil's voice turned high-pitched. "I can't steer a plane!"

"You can drive."

"This is a plane!"

"Close enough."

"Can't you just magic it back in the air?"

"You read too much Harry Potter."

Cecil sighs. He has, after all, learned from five years of experience, that he never wins an argument against Lou Ellen.

"Help me find a clear area to land," he ordered. The rest of the group obediently grabbed maps and a GPS to find their location.

"We're seven hundred feet above a field in Sofia, Bulgaria," said Will. "The field should be long enough for you to land." The plane lurched. Lou Ellen retched, looking very green.

The field, as the plane dropped closer to the ground, was not at all a good place to land after all. The place was probably a construction site. Stone foundations and lumber covered the ground.

"Grab onto something, everyone!" Cecil took the yoke and yanked its two prongs upwards. The plane was at an angle that seemed almost vertical.

Will grasped the bottom of one of the seats, which he was almost sure was bolted in tightly. Nico was gripping tightly on the other seat. Lou Ellen perched near the window of the cockpit, holding her hand out. She might have been chanting something, but Will couldn't hear over his, Cecil's and Nico's screaming, the roar of the wind around the plane, and the awful feeling of the pressure in his ears building up as they descended. As for Cecil, he put his seat belt on when he sat down at the controls.

There was a booming crunch as the left side of the aircraft hit the ground, semi-horizontal. Will had the impression that a good chunk of a wing was probably torn off.

Before the mostly destroyed plane could crash into anything else, though, a pink bubble appeared and seemed to cushion the right side of the plane. The window shattered, spraying glass shards everywhere. Before anyone was hurt, though, the shards of glass froze in place. The three guys turned to Lou Ellen, shocked, but she seemed just as bewildered.

Will rushed over and checked the pilot and the co-pilot's essentials. There were several broken bones and both of them have awful concussions, but nothing a stay at the hospital can't fix.

Lou Ellen kicked open the door and stumbled out of the plane. Then she fell on her knees and promptly threw up. Nico, Cecil, and Will trailed behind her. Cecil helped her up.

People, probably construction workers, started to gather around the plane wreck. One guy held up his phone and snapped a picture of the wreckage, then of the four demigods.

"Който се разби този самолет? Дали някой умре?" One of the construction workers asked. Will didn't speak Bulgarian, and judging by the confused look on his friends' faces, neither did any of them.

"What happened to this plane?" another local finally asked in heavily accented English. Will could see several people whispering on their phones and taking pictures, no doubt calling nine-one-one and getting photos for the court.

Nico, Will, Cecil, and Lou Ellen glanced at each other. The expressions on their faces showed that they all knew the plan.

"Get the people in the plane to a hospital," Will told them.

Cecil reached into his backpack and threw something on the ground. Smoke and dust spread all over the construction site.

"Run!" he hollered, and the four teenagers sprinted away.

-Line break-

"This was a bad idea," Lou Ellen wheezed, "This was a really bad idea."

Will had thought that the four of them were completely capable of outrunning the construction workers. They were all average speed compared to the people in Camp Half-Blood, and the average half-blood is much faster than the average mortal.

Except…Nico still hadn't completely recovered from Tartarus and all the shadow-traveling from the war. Lou Ellen was completely winded out from performing two giant shielding spells and the airsickness. Will and Cecil have been practically dragging the other two demigods for the past one hundred feet.

There were about ten burly men and women chasing after the demigods. They couldn't keep running for much longer.

"Everyone, grab on to me," Nico panted.

"Nico, if you're going to do what I think you're going to do, you're not going to do it!" Will scolded.

"We don't have another option!" Nico retorted, "Lou Ellen, help me!"

"I-I can't-"

"Hazel's talked to you and your siblings about shadow travel before. You're the only other person here that knows how this works. You've got to help me!"

"Nico-" Will warned.

Nico grabbed Will's hand (that sent a warm feeling into his body) and Lou Ellen took Cecil's. Will felt an awful lurch in his stomach, and the world around him dissolved into shadow.

**Sheesh, Nico, didn't Will chew you out enough times already?**

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